Arguably one of the most good looking Audis in India, the uber cool A7 promises to be three cars in one. Does it have the right mix or is it all mixed up?
Story: Sarmad Kadiri
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
This is undoubtedly the most handsome Audi I have driven. Long, wide and low and styled with smooth and clean lines akin to master strokes in a painting. The front end carries the Audi family design and is quite well proportioned. The LED daytime running lights make it look chic and the bright Xenon light comes handy while driving in poor visibility conditions or at night. Like most modern Audis, there is no moderation to the use of LED lights. You’ll find them in the rear end as well. This is because they offer brighter light during daytime, consume less energy, are long lasting and look really cool.
The side profile of the car can make even hardened auto journalists go weak in their knees. It resembles some of the iconic super cars of the 1970s. The long bonnet, sweeping roof-line and the sharply chopped off rear end make it look like a sporty coupé, until you notice that it has four doors. The car is based on the new A6 platform, with an overall length of 4,969 mm and width of 1,911 mm, but is just 1,420 mm tall owing to the alluring coupé-style roof-line. We drove the ‘S line’ variant that adds boxier front air intakes, adding to the car’s aggressive styling. The design is of a car the vice-president of an IT firm would fantasise about.
Now that we’ve harped enough on the car’s good looks, let’s shed some light on facts. As mentioned earlier, the A7 uses a stretched version of the lightweight MLB platform already doing service in the new A6, which allows engines to be mounted further back in the chassis than before. And since I was attentive during my high school physics classes, I understand that this position of the engine would give the car better stability. But it’s not just a dressed-up A6. It also relies heavily on the luxurious A8 and hence has a good 20 per cent of its body made of aluminium, including elements of the doors, the bonnet and the tailgate. Most of the remaining parts are made of comparatively less expensive steel. Specific sections have been reinforced with panels of varying thickness, ensuring strength in the event of a collision. The lightweight construction is also applied to the suspension with die-cast aluminium being used at the front suspension strut mounts. The control arms, pivot bearings and wheel carriers also have aluminium components to reduce weight.
Audi have 11 colour options on offer for the A7 in India, which include not less than three different hues of black and the same number of greys, probably targeting the ‘dark knight’ in you. We got the Impala beige with pearl effect, which is a good option for our environment. As you get inside the car, you get surrounded by opulence despite the seemingly simple design of the interior. There are hoards of instruments and buttons that are aesthetically laid out, easy to reach and simple to operate. The high central console gives the car a sporty, cockpit-like feeling and the material used in the cabin is, as is usual for Audi, stunning. The small touch pad on it is a great ‘touch’. There are over a dozen of aluminium and wood trim options that could be considered an industry benchmark.
Our top-of-the-line ‘S line’ featured the Bang & Olufsen music system, which needs no introduction. The compact tower-shaped speakers and the 6.5-inch infotainment screen slide out in a sleek motion. The screen also offers the Drive Select options and aids parking using the rear camera. Then you get the optional four-zone automatic air-conditioning, wherein the air distribution, temperature and blower speed can be adjusted individually for the front seat occupants. True to what was said in the press note, ‘the optional ambient lighting provides an emotion arousing orchestration of light’. I couldn’t have put it better. The driver also gets the head-up display, which projects a virtual image of the speedometer inside the windscreen and anti-glare inside rear-view mirror. It can be configured, though, to display particular data that may be more important.
The sporty seats offer ample support and the bucket seat-like grooves hold you securely in position. They also have air vents to heat or cool the seats. There is enough legroom in the rear of this sportback, but the coupé-inspired drooping roof restricts the luxury of headroom, though it should not be too much of a bother for an Indian of average build. The boot is huge with 535 litres of storage space and, as in a notchback, the whole tailgate opens up like a giant’s yawn.
The A7 currently has just one engine option in India – the three-litre TDI with quattro. And I think it makes sense for Audi to launch this oil-burner in India as it makes for a more practical option and will account for a major chunk of the A7’s sales. Expect a petrol engine option – 3.0 TFSI, early in 2012. The sportback is powered by a 2,967-cc V6 diesel motor that can spin out 245 PS of power and a fantastic 500 Nm of torque without breaking into a sweat. There are two aspects that make this motor entertaining – the optimum flowing in between 1,400-3,250 rpm and the seven-speed S-tronic transmission with Audi’s dual clutch technology. This transmission makes a gear change possible in just 0.2 of a second without interrupting the power flow and our kick-down figures uphold its efficiency. Moreover, it reduces fuel consumption compared to a traditional auto-box. You can even shift into the manual mode if you prefer to shift gears yourself.
With the Quattro with sports differential driving the rear wheels, the A7 handles every bend as if on carving skis by ensuring that the individual rear wheels are able to receive different amount of drive torque. The ride quality is pretty good thanks to the Trapezoidal link, twin-tube, gas-filled shock-absorbers. It is not as agile as an A4 and drives like a big sedan. One can also select the preferred drive mode from Comfort, Dynamic, Auto and Individual. If the going gets too rough, the Comfort mode comes in handy. Having said that, I preferred the Dynamic mode, which made the steering more engaging and the ride sharper. The handling and specifically the steering feel is the highlight of this Audi. The sportback goes exactly where you point it and the 18-inch 255/45 wheels make sure they do not slacken the grip.
The 3.0 TDI is not a beast like Audi’s 4.2-litre diesel monster, but it’s no slouch either and has more than sufficient torque to surge ahead if you add weight to the accelerator pedal. Naught-to-100 km/h in 7.2 seconds is proof enough of the engine’s capability. Then you have the option of the Start-Stop system, which reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emission by switching off the engine when the car is stationary. For instance, when the driver brings the car to a halt at a traffic signal, engages the neutral gear and takes his foot off the clutch pedal, the system shuts down the engine. There’s more for Green Peace activists. It’s also got an energy recovery system that converts kinetic energy into electrical energy during phases when the car is braking. When the car accelerates again, the battery directs the temporarily stored energy back into the vehicle. This relieves the load on the alternator and thereby saves fuel. And the world is a greener place.
What the A7 sportback tries to do is break away from the obvious. It isn’t, in the proper sense of the term, a sedan or a coupé nor an estate. But it manages to combines the highlights of all the three and emerges as an attractive and unique option. The A7 sportback inspires passion like a piece of art, yet is muscular and strongly mechanical. But its beauty lies in its simplicity. It looks neat without any forced light reflectors or bold lines, is aerodynamic and comes without unnecessary gimmicks. Precisely what you would expect of a German sports car. It gives you almost all the luxuries of an A8 and is fun and more nimble to drive. Obviously, you have to shell out Rs 64 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi) for its marvellous design, rich leather lining and the luxuriously layered oak. And if you are still cribbing about rear headroom, then go for an A8.
